Contrary to Liberal Lies, ICE Can’t Go Around Randomly Detaining People

The Constitution grants the power of naturalization to Congress. That means Congress, and Congress alone, gets to decide our immigration processes and rules. James Madison, preemptively trying to avoid the issue the United States faces today, urged for ‘uniform rule’ for naturalization throughout the nation. With the right of individuals to freely pass through the states, Madison warned that allowing each city, town or state to create their own rules for naturalization would cause conflict. 

He was right. 

So called ‘sanctuary cities’ have become increasingly popular following the 1980’s migrant flux. These cities have to cooperate with baseline federal law but can limit further cooperation. 

Liberals, pandering to sanctuary city communities and those with misinformed sympathies, purposely mislead the public about ‘deportation’ and ‘raids’ in a transparent attempt to rally a new voting base. 

But what’s the truth about these ‘deportations’ and ‘raids’ in 'sanctuary' communities and other cities throughout the nation? 

The truth is not what the liberal media and politicians are telling you. 

Here’s how it actually works: 

When an arrest occurs, the officer inputs information about the individual in question into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. This information is then sent to the Department of Homeland Security. If the DHS receives a hit or a match for someone who has already been on their radar, then the DHS will ask local law enforcement to detain the suspected individual for a longer period of time to get more information and put in a detainer request. In these cases, the individual has already been through the NCIC database and has been suspected to be residing in the states illegally. 

The DHS will only put in a detainer request when an individual, who has already been arrested, was flagged through the NCIC. What this detainer request does is ask local law enforcement to extend the period of detainment beyond the general expected release so that ICE can investigate the person’s immigration status. If ICE finds that the detained individual is undocumented, they will ask the jail to hold the inmate for an extra 48 hours after they would have otherwise been released so that ICE can get a warrant to begin deportation proceedings. 

Now, liberal politicians decried Trump’s 2017 Executive Order, which sought to end federal funding to sanctuary cities. They said that Trump was taunting sanctuary communities, forcing them to choose an ultimatum. Liberals also said that he was intimidating illegal immigrants from reporting crimes to the police out of fear that they’d be deported, or that illegal immigrants would not be able to go grocery shopping out of fear of ‘random’ deportations. 

Their pathetic argument lacks crucial information: quite simply, it cannot happen. 

Information regarding citizenship is only run through the system once a person has been arrested and booked on charges. Police do not have the authority to check identification and citizenship status at random. Arguing that Trump’s executive order-or rhetoric surrounding illegal immigration-would deter people from reporting crimes and being active in their community is a baseless manipulation tactic used by the left to fear monger voters who sympathize with illegal immigrants. 

In June of 2019, the President again came under fire for ordering what some politicians referred to as “mass deportations”. Across the nation, politicians condemned these raids, with activists even likening this to Nazi-era tactics. 

Now, these planned raids targeted 2,000 individuals who had been court ordered in February to turn themselves into ICE to begin deportation proceedings, after having received due process and having been denied asylum. Contrary to what the liberals would have you believing, ICE cannot just go around randomly pulling these people out of their homes and off the streets. 

What the liberal media didn’t tell you was that ICE agents need warrants to conduct these arrests. Now, there are two types of warrants an ICE agent could present: a judicial warrant and an administrative warrant. 

A judicial warrant is an official court document that can only be signed by a judge. This means there was due process, and that the warrants are therefore constitutional. 

Then there are administrative warrants, which are signed by an ICE agent and states that a person has been designated for possible deportation proceedings. These warrants are not signed by a judge and are technically not legally binding. So, people who are presented with these warrants are not legally required to ‘open the door’ and comply.  While federal law allows for the removal of a person based on administrative warrants, New York City, like many other sanctuary cities, passed a series of laws requiring ICE agents to present a judicial warrant in order to conduct any deportation of detainment. And as luck would have it, these ICE agents did in fact have judicial warrants for these 2,000 families. 

So, the question now becomes: if ICE followed both federal and local laws-and were within their constitutional rights- why did liberal politicians lie to the American people?

ICE enforces our laws as they stand, and their position as law enforcement agents should be respected. Until the laws are changed, liberals needs to stop preying on American voters’ emotions to generate political engagement and create panic.